A bunch of thoughts and comments to kind of bring everything up to date since I’ve been gone.

Surprisingly – at least to these eyes – the Red Sox have turned themselves into a very competitive and entertaining team. Sweeping the Yankees over the past weekend was, as it always is when that happens, sweet. And while their schedule hasn’t been the toughest, you can only play the games you have in front of you, don’t you? Of course, they’ve been helped greatly by that Pablo “Fat Pig” Sandoval’s physical fitness (or lack thereof) and his season-ending shoulder injury, which has enabled Travis Shaw to show everyone that last year’s second-half performance wasn’t just beanbag. And knuckleballer Steven Wright has more than made up for Clay Buchholz’s usual underperforming. There are still big questions about how their bullpen will hold up over the year, but for right now it appears John Farrell (who still doesn’t know how to manage a major league baseball team) will keep his job past Memorial Day – something I didn’t think was possible just a few weeks ago.

While I was back in Massachusetts I got to watch the Celtics playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks. No fan of NBA Basketball, I, but I will admit the Celtics were fun to watch until that last game when they were blown out and eliminated by the Hawks after exhibiting an incredible lack of ability to put the ball through the “ring” (as Ted Cruz would call it – any idiot knows it’s a hoop, right?) on a semi-regular basis.

I’m a big fan of crime author T.J. English. His “Havana Nocturne” is a great read about the Mob and how it lost Cuba to the Castro revolution, and his “Paddywhacked” is a great telling of the rise and fall of the Irish Mob in America. I’ll tell you, those books made the long flights on my last two trips to Massachusetts and two work-related trips to Atlanta and Raleigh, NC feel a heckuva lot shorter. Not to mention Howie Carr’s “The Brothers Bulger”, which was another fine read.

I’d like to think I’m a pretty good judge of political candidates and their qualities, so it’s really hard to believe, looking at Ted Cruz’s campaign, and him as a candidate and a person, that I actually liked him at one time. The man simply oozes sleaze and arrogance. He’s had two years to show the American public that he’s more than a smarmy know-it-all wrapped in the grease and slime of Washington politics and has obviously failed miserably. If I’m going to vote for someone I have to at least like that person at least a little, and there’s nothing – and I do mean nothing – likeable about Ted Cruz.

To that point, while it’s questionable – at least at this juncture – whether Donald Trump can win the White House, it’s damned certain a Cruz / Fiorina ticket would get blown out no matter whom they were running against. Two more unlikeable personalities you are unlikely to find. It’s no wonder they ended up paired together – they’re two peas in a pod.

So, it looks like Tiger Woods might actually tee it up at Jack Nicklaus’s Memorial tournament. Only he knows for sure whether it’s the right thing to do, but I’m guessing Tiger feels that, damn it, he’s a golfer, and if he’s going to hurt himself again he might as well do it on the golf course where his career would be over and there would be no more questions or hemming and hawing about it. I’ve never been a fan of his but I’ll be rooting for him to put on a good showing just the same.

I know I mentioned the other day how enjoyable the Red Sox are to watch, but it’s not as much fun as the fun first baseman Hanley Ramirez appears to be having in embracing his new position. And you know something? He’s doing a fine job of playing the position. I just wish he’d hit more.

Put me down as not impressed with what’s happened to the NESN broadcast booth this year. You know, even if the Sox weren’t much to watch you could always count on an enjoyable listen to play-by-play man Don Osillo. And last year even his long-time partner Jerry Remy picked up his game that had been floundering for the previous few years. Now D.O. is gone, and Remy’s only around occasionally on road trips. And who do we get? Dave O’Brien, who, while certainly capable, exhibits the same interesting qualities as a Cobb salad, and Remy replacement Steve Lyons never shuts up. Makes one wonder what the so-called “know-it-alls” at NESN are thinking.

I know what you’re all thinking: where’s the news about the 2016 Goodboys Invitational. Our Exec-Comm this year seems kind of shy as far as PR goes, so don’t be surprised if some leaks start to spring right here at Goodboys Nation weblog over the next few days. Boys, if you want to know who your playing partner is this year stay tuned to this here spot for some exciting news before week’s end.